Bhubaneswar, May 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Odisha again on May 19 to further intensify the election campaigning of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.

“PM Modi will reach Bhubaneswar at around 7 p.m. on May 19. He is likely to have an hour-long meeting with senior leaders over election-related and other issues at the state headquarters here in the evening.

“On May 20, he will first perform darshan of Lord Jagannath and later hold a roadshow at the Badadanda (Grand Street) of Puri. PM Modi will later leave for Angul where he is scheduled to address a public gathering. He will then address another election meeting at Cuttack before returning to Bhubaneswar,” said Odisha unit BJP president Manmohan Samal on Friday.

Meanwhile, the SPG officials held discussions with the commissionerate police and other police personnel regarding security arrangements.

This is the third visit of PM Modi to Odisha for the election campaigning in the last 15 days.

He has so far addressed five big public rallies at different constituencies and also held a massive roadshow in Bhubaneswar city.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1. The results of the polling for both Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha will be out on June 4.

–IANS

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Agartala, May 17 (IANS) More than a year after a minor girl was taken away from her village in Tripura’s Khowai district on the pretext of a job, she was rescued from Rajasthan by a state police team and one person arrested in this connection, an official said on Friday.

A police official said that a neighbour of the 15-year-old girl took her away from Singichara village in Khowai to Jaipur in April last year to engage her in domestic work but in January this year, some people forced her to marry a man in Rajasthan.

The girl’s father lodged a complaint with the police on May 6 and then a police team headed by Sub-Inspector Champa Das went to Rajasthan, rescued the minor girl, arrested accused Ashok Kumar Chowdhury, 30, earlier this week and brought them back here on Thursday.

Police on Friday produced the accused in a local court in Khowai and the court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

The girl was also handed over to her family.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) The Telangana government on Thursday issued orders to replace ‘TS’ with ‘TG’ as the state’s abbreviation.

With the Centre adopting ‘TG’ as the new abbreviation, the state government ordered the replacement of all references to ‘TS’ with ‘TG’ in the nomenclature of all state PSUs, agencies, autonomous institutions and other government bodies.

Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari issued a Government Order (GO) directing all departments of the Secretariat to replace all references to ‘TS’ with ‘TG’ in official documents (including letterheads, reports, notifications etc), signages within and outside government offices, websites and online platforms and any other official communication.

She requested all Special Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries/Secretaries to review with all government institutions under their administrative control to ensure this migration seamlessly across the board.

All departments have been asked to submit compliance reports by May 31.

The Ministry of Road and Transport and Highways had on Wednesday formally notified ‘TG’ as Telangana’s vehicle code.

With this, ‘TG’ will replace ‘TS’ as the state code for all vehicle registration plates. It was in February that the new Congress government decided to change the abbreviation.

Following the Cabinet decision, ‘TG’ will replace ‘TS’ in the gazette of the Union Government.

After the formation of Telangana in 2014, the then-TRS government opted for ‘TS’ as the state abbreviation. However, the Congress, which came to power five months ago. decided to change the abbreviation. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said that the previous government did not follow any rule and rhyme and decided to go with ‘TS’ as per its whims.

During the campaign for Assembly elections, Revanth Reddy had said that ‘TS’ was chosen only to suit the TRS party. No other state in the country has ‘state’ in the alphabet component in the vehicle registration number, he had pointed out.

–IANS

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Hassan, (Karnataka) May 17 (IANS) Arrested BJP leader G. Devaraje Gowda alleged on Friday that Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar offered him Rs 100 crore to malign the names of former Chief Minister and JD-S state President H.D. Kumaraswamy, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to mediapersons from the police vehicle after being sent to judicial custody on Friday, Devaraje Gowda claimed that Shivakumar even sent him Rs 5 crore as advance.

“After I refused the offer, police cases were lodged against me and I was arrested. I am ready to expose him (Shivakumar) once I am released. The Congress government is going to collapse in Karnataka,” he claimed.

Devaraje Gowda added, “I was told to make a statement that it was Kumaraswamy who circulated the pen drives containing sex videos (involving Kumaraswamy’s nephew Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of ex-PM H.D. Deve Gowda). But it was Shivakumar who obtained the pen drive from Karthik Gowda, who worked as a driver for Prajwal Revanna, and planned the entire episode.”

A team of four ministers, including N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda, and Priyank Kharge, was formed to handle the developments relating to the sex video scandal, Devaraje Gowda claimed.

“They had planned in a big way to bring disrepute to Prime Minister Modi, Kumaraswamy, and the BJP. They offered me Rs 100 crore and sent Rs 5 crore as advance to Room No. 110 at Bowring Club. A local leader from Channarayapatna, Gopalaswamy, was sent to negotiate the deal,” Devaraje Gowda claimed.

“Shivakumar made the Rs 100 crore offer to malign the name of Prime Minister Modi by linking him to the sex scandal. Shivakumar’s main objective is to finish Kumaraswamy politically,” he added.

“When I refused to be a part of their plans, they first fixed me in an atrocity case, but couldn’t find any evidence. Later, they fixed me in a sexual harassment case. When this ploy also failed, they lodged a rape case against me. I was interrogated for four days, but they couldn’t get anything,” he claimed.

“I have the audio recordings of Shivakumar’s conversations. I will release them and the Congress government will collapse once I am out of prison,” Devaraje Gowda claimed as the police vehicle drove off.

On May 6, Devaraje Gowda claimed that Shivakumar was behind the release of the pen drive containing videos of sexual assault.

He also said that Prime Minister Modi was Congress’ main target.

“I do not trust the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sex scandal. I will submit all the evidence to the CBI. The videos in my possession are different from those which have been released,” he had claimed.

Devaraje Gowda was arrested by the Karnataka police six days ago in a sexual harassment and atrocity case.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) While the polling for the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana has ended, the political heat continues as the major political players have intensified their campaign for the by-election of the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) from the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates’ constituency.

The candidates of the ruling Congress and opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are vying with each other to woo voters for the May 27 by-election.

There are 4.6 lakh voters in the constituency spread over 34 assembly seats in the erstwhile districts of Warangal, Khammam, and Nalgonda. There are 52 candidates in the fray but it will be mainly a triangular contest among the Congress, the BRS, and the BJP.

The vacancy arose after Palla Rajeshwar Reddy of the BRS resigned after he was elected to the Assembly from the Jangaon constituency in the November 2023 Assembly elections.

The BRS, which is making every effort to retain the seat, has fielded A. Rakesh Reddy, who had quit the BJP to join it just before the Assembly elections after he was denied a ticket from the Warangal constituency.

Chintapandu Naveen, also known as Teenmaar Mallanna, who had contested as an independent and finished second in the election for the MLC seat held two years ago, is in the fray this time as the Congress candidate.

The BJP has again fielded its state General Secretary G. Premender Reddy, who secured fourth place in 2021.

The key candidates have intensified their campaigning. They are meeting the voters and seeking their support for the upcoming by-poll.

The by-election is a prestige battle for Congress as the party is keen to demonstrate that it continues to enjoy the support of graduates. Jobs for unemployed youth was one of its key promises in the Assembly elections and it is reiterating its commitment to fill two lakh vacancies through the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) before the end of 2024.

In 2021, Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) President and academician M. Kodandaram also contested the poll from this MLC constituency but finished third. There were allegations that money was distributed among voters to defeat Kodandaram, a bitter critic of BRS President and then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).

Kodandaram, a former professor of political science at Osmania University, had played a key role in the Telangana movement as convenor of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), which included TRS (now BRS). He was considered close to KCR. However, after the formation of Telangana in 2014, differences cropped up between them and Kodandaram floated the TJS.

In the recent Assembly elections, Kodandaram backed the Congress and the latter rewarded him by nominating him to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota.

With Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and ministers backing him, Teenmaar Mallanna is confident of wresting the seat from BRS.

The ruling party has 33 out of the 34 MLAs in the graduates’ constituency.

Mallanna, who belongs to Backward Classes Munnuru Kapu community, joined the Congress before the Assembly elections. He was earlier with the BJP.

The BRS is sparing no effort to defeat Mallanna, whom its leaders call a “blackmailer”. Mallanna runs a YouTube channel considered highly critical of KCR and his family. He was arrested for his alleged derogatory posts and comments against KCR when BRS was in power.

The BRS is appealing to voters to elect the well-educated Rakesh Reddy, who completed his higher studies in the US. The BJP is banking on the PM Narendra Modi factor to win the support of graduates.

The polling will be held on May 27 while counting of votes will be taken up on June 5, a day after counting of votes polled in Lok Sabha elections.

The key political players in the state are also waiting for the result of another by-poll.

The by-election to the Legislative Council from Mahabubnagar Local Authorities’ Constituency was held on March 28 and the counting of votes was scheduled on April 2. However, the Election Commission postponed the counting to June 2 in view of the model code of conduct announced for the Lok Sabha elections.

A total of 1,439 voters, including municipal councillors, MPTCs, ZPTCs and ex-officio members, were eligible to cast their votes in the by-election and barring two, all cast their votes on March 28.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had cast his vote as an ex-officio member in his capacity as MLA from Kodangal constituency.

The by-election witnessed a direct fight between Manney Jeevan Reddy of the Congress and N. Naveen Kumar Reddy of BRS. Independent candidate Sudershan Goud was also in the fray.

The by-election was necessitated after Kasireddy Narayan Reddy of the BRS resigned and successfully contested as a Congress candidate from the Kalwakurthy Assembly constituency in the Assembly elections.

–IANS

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